Ole! Ole! I realize that a few years back I did an inspiration board with Spanish influence, titled “La Boda – the Wedding.” I am again inspired to create a mood board along those lines, with a more updated look. Whereas my first board included many traditional Spanish elements, this one has more subtle nods to that grand heritage. You can incorporate any of these into your celebration, such as a location that has Spanish architecture, or by using lots of lace details and fans or shawls for your female attendants. Your ladies could also wear their hair in a style that would look great with a few roses tucked in the sides, or perhaps as a bride, you would like to wear a traditional mantilla comb with a veil to complement it. Damask fabrics and paper goods have been popular for the last few years, and can provide a very stylish and sophisticated look to your event. Enjoy!!

I have fallen completely in love with Diffa, and Dining by Design! BizBash New York recently published a series of articles about this company and their innovative tabletop designs. I hope you will be as inspired as I am. Enjoy!!

Each year when the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS Dining by Design benefit hits New York—recruiting designers to dream up elaborate tabletop looks—we record the myriad inspirational ideas the event offers. This year was no exception, and our style editors were on the prowl last week, spotting new place setting concepts, identifying color trends, and (lucky you) highlighting the event’s 10 most steal-able ideas. You can find an archive of our coverage of the event here.

Designers at Diffa’s Dining by Design showcase always offers a multitude of concepts to adapt to other events. This year’s most-likely-to-reappear concepts included patterned seat cushions, veggies as centerpiece fodder, and napkin rings made from colored paper swatches. Here’s a list of ideas that made an impression. READ MORE

Perhaps as a nod to spring, many designers at Diffa’s Dining by Design event incorporated yellow accents into their tables this year, with shades of the color popping up as table linens, vases, statuary, and flowers. Here’s a look at an array of the warm settings. READ MORE

Crystal-studded orbs, vintage-looking fixtures, traditional cut-crystal chandeliers, dangling pendants dressed up with fabrics, and mod prisms embellished lighting at many of the tables at Diffa’s Dining by Design event at Skylight. Here’s a selection of the glittering installations. READ MORE

Kravet Inc. used Lucite-topped books as place settings.Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash

Books, picnic baskets, film reels, logs, and fabric encased in plexiglass were among the unusual props and decorative devices that topped tables at Diffa’s Dining by Design event at Skylight. Here’s a look at some of the most striking settings. —Lisa Cericola & Mark Mavrigian

David Stark’s dining environment for Benjamin Moore was made mostly out of paint swatches and paper.Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash

This year, Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS’s annual Dining by Design fund-raiser moved from its most recent home at the Waterfront to the downtown venue Skylight. The new location had a strong impact on the experience of walking through the showcase, which recruits a slate of designers and sponsors to build imaginative dining environments.

Compared with the Waterfront, with its exposed brick and steel beams (and the benefit’s previous homes at the Hammerstein Ballroom and Roseland) Skylight’s big white box provided a brighter, less distracting background for the designers’ intensely layered creations. And the new site’s smaller size necessitated a tighter collection of tables (cut down from more than 50 to 39) that made for a more focused—and more easily navigable—forum for locating trends and gathering ideas.

“It’s always a challenge to find a venue here, and for us, [Skylight is] a very user-friendly venue, with two load-in points—plus it’s a blank canvas for us; it’s a gallery,” said Diffa’s special events manager, Steven Williams. “It’s a little more exclusive because it’s smaller, and we have more sponsors this year.”

So, speaking of trends and ideas, how did the designers fill the new location? READ MORE

Ok, it’s time to have some fun!! Since I am snowed in this weekend in Ohio, with a snowfall expected of 15 inches total, I thought I would put together an inspiration board for a Las Vegas or casino themed affair. My husband and I are planning to go to Las Vegas next year to renew our wedding vows. I want an Elvis impersonator to do the ceremony, and he keeps threatening to run off with a showgirl if that happens!! I will win in the end, though!! Let the good times roll, and remember, “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!” Enjoy!!

DESTINATION: Ohio’s Sweet Escape
Every March, Malabar Farm State Park in Mansfield, OH, offers a free Maple Syrup Festival. This year, groups can learn the history of Ohio syrup making on March 1-2 and 8-9, from 12-4:00 p.m. daily. A self-guided tour of the sugar camp and sugarhouse reveals the evolution of sugaring equipment and how maple sap is transformed into maple syrup. Visitors will explore the summer bell house, behind the Pugh Log Cabin, which is set up as an authentic pioneer cabin. Guests will also enjoy horse-drawn wagon rides to the sugar camp, provided by the Central Ohio Draft Horse Association. Malabar Farm State Park, which is a short drive from Columbus, Akron, and Cleveland, is the former home of novelist and conservationist Louis Bromfield, whose progressive conservation practices predated today’s sustainability practices. The tour will appeal to history buffs and “slow-food” culinary enthusiasts.

This sounds like a fun event, and one that could inspire you to use the venue for other events. Enjoy!

Orange and Blue – opposites on the color wheel, but put them together, and you have a gorgeous palette for a wedding or any other celebration! This inspiration board has many influences: tropical, caribbean, Asian, touches of sweet whimsy, and sheer sophistication. Enjoy!

Chocolate and Pink have been hot colors for weddings for some time now. I paired them together in this board with a polka dot motif, and let my imagination run wild! It’s a classically cute and fun theme. This design scheme will work well for any event, not just weddings. You could use this for a birthday, bridal shower, Mother’s Day Luncheon, or a graduation brunch. Enjoy!!

Update:

I was browsing around on www.etsy.com, and saw these adorable invitations, that go so well with this board and the theme. The designer is SlyFox Designs. Check them out!

For Larry Abel’s art mosaic, one of his most challenging pieces, he used bonbons from every Godiva collection. Photo: Sara Jaye Weiss

From the initial concept to the finished design, Abel says he put more than 1,000 hours of work into the piece, which, to him, is more than a simple showcase of colorful chocolates. “I considered the art elements, how I would invent a really cool, unusual space with rich browns, varied textures, and mixtures of classic and contemporary designs,” he said. For Lapidus, the goal of the suite was to create a “unique culinary experience,” which, despite being edible, will hopefully be “more admired than nibbled on.”Playing with interactive components, Abel included a crystal ice bucket filled with white chocolate truffles, books that open to pieces of chocolate in place of pages, and even edible flowers. He also created interpretations of two paintings: a Jackson Pollock-inspired canvas splattered with multicolored chocolate and a re-creation of Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss.” “The Kiss” in particular was a challenge for Abel, who describes the piece as an explosion of gold, ribbons, foils, and mint cherry cordials. The Pucci-inspired chocolate upholstery on the armchairs and the chocolate mosaic on the dining room table are also deeply detailed designs that pushed Abel to come up with something visually appealing while using chocolates from every Godiva collection.

To add a little life to the suite, Godiva tapped Heroes star Ali Larter to help promote the competition (which anyone can enter by purchasing a $23 heart-marked gift box) for reasons beyond her pretty celebrity face. The recently engaged actress claims to carry tins of Godiva chocolates, and last year requested a Godiva cake for her birthday. “This year, Ali Larter, a huge Godiva fan and bride-to-be, best embodied the brand,” said Randi Peck, vice president of lifestyle at Alison Brod. Larter, the only non-press guest at the event, participated as the roving centerpiece and a draw for the photographers.

The Decadence Suite is only part of Godiva’s promotional package; other sinful goodies include a year’s supply of Godiva chocolates and a private chocolate tasting led by Godiva’s executive chef and chocolatier, Thierry Muret. “This is our most extraordinary prize to date,” Lapidus said of the suite, “which is why we’ve already started brainstorming ways to top it next year.” —Lauren Matison

‘Afternoon Tea’ style table ware at The Last Detail

Retro influences are heading off the catwalk and on to our tableware with this cool ‘Afternoon Tea’ range of table decorations. This look is great if you want colourful tableware in pastels and brights or are looking for a way to work in brilliant vintage finds. Make sure you have dotty napkins, coloured glass votives and mountains of cupcakes to complete the look and send guests home with party bags just like the ones from your childhood. You can find the items pictured here at The Last Detail.